On Thursday, Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testified before the House Ways and Means Committee about President Donald Trump’s budget, which includes numerous cuts to public health infrastructure.
More than a year into his stewardship of the sprawling bureaucracy that is HHS, he has massively remade it into his image of conspiracy-mongering and the spread of disinformation. He ousted the Senate-confirmed Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Susan Monarez, over their disagreement on vaccines. The Food and Drug Administration, which falls under his jurisdiction, removed a page warning about fake “cures” for autism that could wind up being dangerous. The CDC under his watch also significantly scaled back the vaccine schedule, which a federal judge halted.
